Photos
of a creature found in our front yard. Take a look, click on the
small black and white images to see the full size color images.

Taylor
almost stepped on this worm, it was not a worm. After a short search
of the bushes nearby I shine my flashlight on this white snake.

This
photo shows some detail of it's head and it's pink eyes. We put it
in a box and then this bucket. It was obviously an albino.
But was it dangerous? No one wanted to touch it.

We
thought at first it was a wild, native snake. A search on the Internet
turned up a Lyre snake that looked very similiar in pattern. But
this species is native to southern California and deserts. A long
way from our house.

Check
out the tongue on this guy.

The next day and after some
more review I guess that it is a very common pet. A corn snake.
An inspection by some snake experts at the Lodi Serpentarium and they confirm
it is a young, albino Corn snake that was probably someone's pet.
Corn Snakes can get up to five feet long, wow. Taylor thinks it is
cool and we start thinking about keeping it. We give it water and
it drinks it all.. Food is next...it is a carnivore. Not looking
forward to feeding it or cleaning up after it. I am not a reptile
person at all but it does seem cute in a weird way, maybe it's story of
being young, lost and neglected and in trouble.

August 5, 2006 Update:

Feeding a snake involves
live rats or mice. Due to the small size of this snake we have to
get very small mice or rats. These are called pinkies in the pet
store. The snake will need to be fed a single pinkie once a week
and is $1.49 plus tax. The sight of the pinkie in a paper bag is
upsetting enough for Taylor and Lisa to refuse to feed or view the feeding.
Stuart and I are up for the task, it's exciting in an animal documentary
way. Here are some very graphic and disturbing photos of the feeding
process. Warning, these may upset you, do not view if you are easily
upset or of a sensitive nature.

The baby snake is not so
cute now. It's been educational for all of us. I just think
it's another mouth to feed and another pet to clean up after. The
snake will most likely go to someone who will appreciate it and not mind
the feeding process.